The Irish Bioenergy Association welcomes the introduction of the long awaited Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) today (7 Dec 2017) by the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten TD. An RHI scheme was first officially conceived as part of the Bioenergy strategy consultation in May 2013, and formally announced in the October 2014 Draft Bioenergy Plan but was never delivered. After much lobbying activities and design consultations by IrBEA and other players in the bioenergy sector in the interim, the biomass industry will now see an RHI scheme live in 2018.

“This is a very welcome development for the bioenergy sector in Ireland, one that has been stagnant for almost 5 years since 2013 whereby many Irish companies have subsequently gone out of business. There will be new opportunities now to stimulate growth for those businesses in the biomass supply side and indeed the biomass technology provider of which we have many as members of the Irish Bioenergy Association. As well as helping to meet the EU heat targets of 12% (currently 6.8%) by 2020 it will play a role in reducing potential fines come 2020. It is perhaps disappointing not see any support for biomethane gas grid injection from AD in this phase but there are still supports for AD heating technologies and of course biomass heating technologies which is a positive. Certainly the ambition to have a scheme open to applicants in 2018 is welcome, but this Government approval is still subject to EU state aid approval. The tiered rates are generally positive but they do not favour the larger type installations offering a subsidy of only 0.05 c/kWh which is where the biggest opportunity exists to close the gap in the renewable heat target” says Ger Devlin IrBEA CEO.
The scheme will support the adoption of renewable heating systems by commercial, industrial, district heating and other non-domestic heat users at sites not covered by the emissions trading scheme. There are also installation grants available up to 30% for the installation of heat pumps. A separate budget would be favoured for such a grant scheme.

About the Irish Bioenergy Association

Dr Ger Devlin is CEO of the Irish Bioenergy Association. With over 200 members, IrBEA is the national association representing the bioenergy industry on the island of Ireland. The main objectives of the association are to influence policy makers, to promote the development of bioenergy and to promote the interests of its members. Improving public awareness, networking and information sharing and liaising with similar interest groups are other key areas of work in promoting biomass as an environmental, economic and socially-sustainable energy resource. www.irbea.org and www.bioenergyfutureireland.com

As we know Ireland’s Department of Communications, Climate Action andEnvironment(DCCAE) is bringing its version of the Renewable Heat Incentive(RHI) to Ireland, here the scheme is explained to the public in simple terms. It discusses the aim of the scheme which is to help Ireland reduce its 12% target in the renewable heating sector by 2020. It quotes the key figures – that 6.6% of heat demand was derived from renewable sources in 2016, which means we need to double that in the next two years to hit those all-important EU targets.

For IrBEA getting this data into the public domain is important, educating everyone as a whole on the benefits of the system are key to getting the scheme up and running. One of the points made in this article is how this scheme aims to differ from the Northern Ireland RHI scheme which failed to control costs and attracted negative publicity over the last year. Energy Minister Denis Naughten is quoted as saying “The lessons learned from the Northern Ireland scheme are being integrated into the design of the Renewable Heat Incentive,” Read the whole article here

Irish Bioenergy Association executives were at the Ploughing, Ger Devlin (IRBEA CEO) took part in the panel talks at the Bord na Móna stand that included Matt Cooper of TodayFM as host, as well as Patrick Madigan (Head of Biomass BNM), Mike Quinn (BNM CEO), Cormac O’ Carroll (Poyry Consulting) and Minister Naughten.The Minister commented that the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme was expected to unlock the indigenous biomass industry and will be finalised as part of Budget 2018, adding “The RHI is part of the whole budget discussion at the moment. I’m meeting with [Finance Minister] Paschal Donohoe next week”

Ger Devlin in addition to the panel talked to Thomas Hubert of the Farmers Journal and commented that the key message for the Minister when delivering the RHI is the correct price point for the tariff so that there is a positive uptake and timing to stimulate confidence back into the bioenergy industry in Ireland.

Listen to the full interview with Ger Devlin and Thomas Hubert, at the podcast link below (5 mins): Podcast link

Please find the link here to the response to the Public Consultation on the design and implementation of a renewable heat incentive in Ireland on behalf of the Irish Bioenergy Association (IrBEA). These detailed responses are based on the responses co-ordinated by the IrBEA RHI Working Group on behalf of it’s members and those who responded accordingly to each of the questions raised concerning the design options for the RHI.

As an association supporting the development and deployment of sustainable bioenergy, we look forward to seeing the outcomes of the this consultation process and are hopeful that we will see a well-designed RHI scheme in place for 2017 that will drive growth and stimulate the bioenergy industry in Ireland towards 2020 and beyond.

The Irish BioEnergy Association’s analysis and proposal for a renewable heat incentive (RHI) was made available in September 2015, an electronic version can be viewed here. The report (and recommendations) has incorporated a strong element of industry consultation and represents a coherent and robust appraisal with industry support. A draft of this final report was distributed to all IrBEA members for consultation in June 2015. A workshop was held in May 2015 where the findings were outlined to 50 IrBEA member organisations and individuals. Separate workshops were held with the IrBEA management committee and the IrBEA Renewable Heat Group. A series of meetings were convened also to engage directly with IrBEA stakeholders.

The report is a response to the ongoing RHI consultation process established by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (DCENR) following publication of its draft Bioenergy Plan.